Mohammed Kudus suffers more humiliation after what West Ham United star did
West Ham forward Mohammed Kudus missed a last-gasp penalty as Ghana ended their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a whimper.
Facing Niger at home having already been eliminated from qualifying contention, Ghana suffered a 2-1 defeat as Kudus missed the chance to equalise following Oumar Sako’s 92nd-minute winner.
Stepping up to take a penalty won four minutes later in second-half stoppage time, Kudus couldn’t convert and saw his effort saved by Mahamadou Djibo to condemn Ghana to a third defeat in six games.
The 24-year-old is yet to really get going this season for either club or country and is looking for a way out of the London Stadium despite being out of form and currently serving a five-match ban [Sacha Tavolieri, 18 November].
Mohammed Kudus miss tarnishes Ghana outing for West Ham star
While much of the criticism aimed Kudus’ way by the Ghanaian media was centred around his costly spot-kick deep in stoppage time, his overall display for the Black Stars was far from terrible.
Though Ghana lacked cutting edge in the final third and took 45 minutes to equalise after Niger’s opener, skipper Kudus still completed 88 per cent of his passes and played eight into the final third [SofaScore].
Nailing three of his five long balls and having eight touches in Niger’s box, Kudus fired off five shots in total, seeing two blocked and his only attempt on target saved for a shot accuracy of just 33 per cent.
As Ghana’s star player, that lack of composure in front of goal proved to be Kudus’ biggest downfall, but he still did his best to get the Black Stars back in the game and was heavily involved defensively.
Completing five ball recoveries and contesting 16 duels, Kudus won 10 of 15 on the ground [67 per cent – FotMob] and earned his side five free-kicks in total, but couldn’t capitalise from 12 yards at the death.
If Kudus is indeed pushing for an exit from East London in the coming months, it remains to be seen if his failure to lead Ghana to the next AFCON will prove a positive or negative prospect for the Hammers.
One thing is for sure after that failure, this is just more humiliation he must fight back against.
In other West Ham news, Stuart Pearce gave his verdict on Julen Lopetegui’s future after the Irons’ slow start to the new season.
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